On June 8, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles Robert Barron celebrated St. Monica Academy’s Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation. After celebrating Mass along with five other priests, Bishop Barron delivered the commencement address and conferred diplomas upon St. Monica Academy’s 8th Grade and 12th Grade graduates. In his address, the Bishop reminded the students that the reason they have been “hunkering down” here at St. Monica’s was to fill themselves with the richness of the Catholic faith and the Western Tradition and then go forth and impart that wealth to the world. The ceremony closed with the graduates singing the words of their Alma Mater: “Crusaders, fight the good fight throughout your future lives. Proclaim the truth with courage knowing Christ is at your side.”

Below is an excerpt from Bishop Barron’s Commencement Address to the 2018 St. Monica Academy Graduates:

Here’s Mother Theresa’s principle, and this is the thing that I want you to remember. She said, “Don’t worry about doing great things. Do little things with great love.” Now I know it can sound a bit like a Hallmark card platitude, but that’s bedrock spiritual truth. Don’t worry about doing great things! In the eyes of the world, great things, that usually have to do with wealth and power and privilege and honor—don’t worry about that. Rather, even the smallest thing that nobody is going to see, no one is going to honor you for it, there’s no money in it, there’s no power in it. But even the smallest thing, done with great love, is the fruit of God’s life in you! That’s why it’s not a Hallmark card platitude—it’s bedrock spiritual truth. You want to fill your heart with God? Do the smallest thing with great love. Graduates, dedicate your lives to that, and you’re going to find what Augustine says we’re all looking for.

St. Monica Academy, an independent, Catholic, coeducational school for grades 1-12, is at the forefront of a renaissance in classical education, a time-honored method of teaching that inspires students to excel academically and morally. Founded by parents in 2001, the school provides 242 students in grades 1-12 with an academically rigorous education using a classical curriculum.